Schansberg

(Originally posted by Eric Schansberg at his blog Schansblog:)

Wow...a lot of good stuff from TownHall.com the last few days on this amazing story.

As someone who has thought and written about politics as a means to various ends, I find it fascinating to consider the use of illegal means to air out unethical and illegal behavior.

Here are some of the TownHall nuggets that got my attention:

From Jonah Goldberg at TownHall.com...

Originally Posted at Eric Schansberg's blog, Schansblog.

I don't know about the precision of the numbers, but they sound reasonable. Anyway, it underlines what we know, intuitively, to be an inefficient program-- even if it had been run well (hat tip: Greg Clark)...

So, the average Cash for Clunkers transaction will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year.

They claim 700,000 vehicles so that's 224 million gallons saved per year.

That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil.

5 million barrels of oil at $70 per barrel costs about $350 million dollars.

So, the government paid $3 billion of our tax dollars to save $350 million.

We spent $8.57 for every dollar saved.

How good a deal was that???

And then, a punchline I had used earlier:

They'll probably do a great job with health care though!

INDIANAPOLIS, IN -- Economist and former candidate for U.S. Congress, Dr. Eric Schansberg, speaks with LPIN Podcast host Mike Kole on Indiana receiving a share of the federal stimulus package and how Indiana will likely prioritize the spending.

Listen to Dr. Schansberg's comments.

Read an article authored by Dr. Schansberg at Economic stimulus is bad fiscal policy

JEFFERSONVILLE, IN -- On Friday, Dr. Eric Schansberg, the Libertarian candidate for U.S. Congress in Indiana's 9th District, announced his campaign stops and plans for November 4th.

Freetown Community Center, 6:00 – 6:15 AM
Brownstown Courthouse, 6:30 – 7:00 AM
Seymour High School, 7:15 – 7:45 AM
North Vernon The Lord's Chapel, 8:00 – 8:30 AM
Scottsburg Middle School, 9:00 – 9:30 AM
Jeffersonville vote at Wilson Elementary, 10:00 AM
Work/Teach - IUS, 10:30 – 3:00 PM
Campaign throughout So. Indiana, 3:00 – 6:00 PM

Starting at 6:00, Eric and his wife will host a party in their home for supporters. Members of the media are welcome to attend as well.

JEFFERSONVILLE, IN -- On Saturday, Dr. Eric Schansberg will celebrate the fifth anniversary of the end of "vehicle emission testing" (VET) in Jefferson County, Kentucky in 2003. (Soon afterwards, Clark and Floyd counties in Indiana ended their VET as well.)

The event is a party from 2:00-6:00—with a 3:00 press conference featuring multiple speakers--at the home of Donna and Dick Mancini (719 Talon Place, Owl Creek sub-division in Louisville).

Dr. Schansberg did research on the benefits and costs of VET in Jefferson County, published on the subject, and testified before the relevant sub-committee of the Kentucky State Senate.

In his research, Dr. Schansberg found that the money, time, and pollution costs of VET were tremendous when the regulation was imposed uniformly on all vehicles. Newer vehicles rarely failed the test—and so, the dollar and time costs of the program were far greater than the modest improvement to the environment.

JEFFERSONVILLE, IN -- On Monday, The Star's editorial board endorsed Republican Mike Sodrel in the 9th District race, citing "a business owner's experience and expertise", "a depth of knowledge" from his previous stint in Congress, and "tempered partisan tendencies".

The board commended Democratic incumbent Baron Hill for showing "encouraging growth in the past two years", but thought that he "remains the weakest of the three candidates".

The board also praised Libertarian Eric Schansberg as "well-qualified", "a strong candidate", "thoughtful", "well versed", and "a prime example of how far the Libertarian Party has advanced in Indiana".

JEFFERSONVILLE, IN -- On Friday, Dr. Eric Schansberg responded to the staggering attention given to the "lie detector" debate proposal put forward by 9th District Republican Party Chairman Larry Shickles on Wednesday. Shickles proposed that the three candidates would be allowed to ask each other questions while connected to a polygraph machine.

Sodrel agreed; Schansberg indicated his willingness to debate under any conditions; Hill refused to comment; and those running the only scheduled debate at Vincennes University in Jasper decided not to change their format.